The Roman Empire

by Lacey Kat
(Copyright by the author - All rights reserved) 

In September of 2023, Rolling Stone Magazine had an article entitled, “Why Are So Many Men Obsessed With the Roman Empire?”  It addressed a trend on TikTok of women, seemingly at random, asking their husbands and boyfriends how often they think about the Roman empire, and being quite surprised to find most of them respond that they think about it on a daily basis.  While this made for a cute “what is it with men these days” filler, Mike Duncan, historian and host of the popular History of Rome podcast decided it was something worth looking into.  I don’t know if he mentions Isaac Asimov in his writings or podcasting, but “The Great Explainer” saw this trend quite a few decades ago.  

Isaac Asimov was never one to do something halfway.  If you asked him to write a pamphlet, he would give you an essay.  If you asked for an article, he would give you a book.  If you asked for a book, he would give you a series.  

The benefit of all of this is that we, the reading public, reaped the rewards of his prolific writing.  However, his editors, the ones who had to pay him per word, or pay to have his abundance of words printed, often wanted restrictions on how much Asimov included in his assignment.  Asimov hated to edit and the only thing he hated more was to have someone else edit it for him.  If a book was longer than the publishing house had in mind, Asimov wanted to be the one who trimmed it. 

Occasionally Asimov hit upon a happy medium.  A way to satisfy his desire to be complete and balance the publisher’s desire to keep a book under 400 pages.  The solution?  Asimov would write two books on the subject.

That is the case with Asimov’s history of Rome.  Realizing that he could not fit the thousand-year epic into one volume, Asimov wrote a book about the Roman Republic and then wrote a book about the Roman Empire.  This made everyone happy.

“The Roman Empire,” picks up right where the “Roman Republic” left off.  Asimov starts with a quick overview of Roman history from its founding in 753 B.C.E., to the fall of Julius Caesar, and the civil wars that followed, to the rise of Octavian, who we know better as “Augustus.”  From here, Asimov starts the tale.

As in the “Roman Republic,” Asimov deals only briefly with daily Roman life, preferring to concentrate on the battles and politics that shaped history.  He uses his indomitable narrative style to make the reader forget that these were events of over two thousand years ago.  The intrigue, backstabbing, and drama of political life could be set in any capitol today, and not just Rome of the past millennia.  This helps bring interest to what is, to most people, the dry subject of history.

Were appropriate Asimov does interject some tidbits of Roman social life, the plight of the poor, the way Rome had to deal with ruling the known world, yet being true to its Italian heritage, etc.  Asimov also uses some opportunities to show the origins of familiar phrases we still use today.  For example, when Augustus took over the Roman land and helped establish the PAX  ROMANUS (or peace of Rome), his army considered him the “Imperator,” which means “commander” or “leader.”  It is from this title that we get the word “Emperor,” in modern English.  This type of information helps remind the reader of the relevance of a people so long ago.

Asimov opens with a short history to bring those who did not read the first book up to speed.  He then opens the first chapter with the life of Augustus and a look at how he shaped the empire.  From here Asimov looks at the Emperors who followed Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, and the rise of philosophy and cults, ending with the rise of Christianity following the life of “Joshua the Messiah,” better known in English as “Jesus Christ.”  Asimov also looks at the role the “Germans” play at this time in world history, and speculates on how Europe may have been different if the Romans had more aggressively tried to assimilate these barbaric tribes.

The end of Nero was the end of the line of Augustus, and with that, Asimov looks at the lines of emperors who followed.  In each chapter, he looks at the unique problems of the time, and how each house tried, with various successes, to rule the world, as the Romans knew it.  Once again, the parallels between the problems of the past, and events in recent history, are surprising parallels, and it brings back the old proverb, "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it." 

The book closes with the rise of the Germanic Kingdoms and the final days of the Roman Empire.  Even if you are very familiar with the subject, Asimov’s own style and interests interject new information in this lively tomb.  

The book is roughly 250 pages long and is closed with a series of genealogies of the various houses that ruled Rome, as well as a table of dates, and an extensive index.  Though written in 1967, it stands the historical test of time and provides a better overview of history than I ever received in high school, or even my first years of college (and I was a history major).

The only problems with the book are minor ones.  First, Asimov did not include pronunciation keys in this work as he did in his previous one.  This is unfortunate because the ability to correctly pronounce Roman names adds an air of authenticity to the education you receive by reading this book.  Second, while I do understand that war and politics are more interesting than the social life of the middle class, I would like to have had a dash less court intrigue and a dash more life of the people.  I have seen less qualified authors than Isaac get quagmired in the life of the everyday citizen it is true, but some look at the life of the Roman would have helped flesh out this history that had such a profound impact on our world today.  Minor complaints, but worth noting.

There are many books on the history of Rome and given our current political situation and the Rolling Stones story on its popularity, there will be many more.  I recommend this book not as the definitive volume on the subject but as a good introduction for those who don't think of Rome too often but would like to know what all the fuss is about.  Maybe it would be a good gift for the wives and loved ones of all those men who dwell daily on the subject. 

The book is published by Houghton Mifflin and is one of their Juvenile history editions.  Even so, it is written with enough style that any aged reader will be satisfied.  It is out of print at this time but can be found in larger libraries under “937, Asimov” and of course can be found with used booksellers online.